Rich People Feel Poor If They Have Less Than $5 Million

Via ThinkProgress, a survey of investors reveals the self-perception of the affluent in our deeply unequal society. More than two-thirds of millionaires do not feel that they are wealthy, and two-fifths of those with more than $5 million still feel non-wealthy:

Rich investors say that it takes at least $5 million to feel wealthy, according to a new investor sentiment report from UBS.

They also define being wealthy not as having a certain amount of money, but having “no financial constraints on what they do.” That does indeed likely come with a large price tag.

The inflation of how much the rich thinks it takes to be rich comes at a time of skyrocketing income inequality. The good news for the uber rich is that less than 20 percent have a pessimistic view of the long-term economic outlook. That differs sharply from the general population, as half of Americans say the economy is getting worse.

Relative deprivation. They always compare themselves to those that have more, so they always feel like they have less.

Eric_D_Read

In a sense, they’re right.
In today’s pecking order, someone worth $5 million is middle class at best.

http://hormeticminds.blogspot.com/ Chaorder Gradient

by middle, do you mean median? or mean?

They two are probably very different

Eric_D_Read

Neither really.
I mean middle class more in terms of the financial caste system we live in.

Ted Heistman

yeah, I agree millionaires are middle class, that shows how the middle class is shrinking. A lot of people with a net worth of a million or two live a middle class lifestyle.

Eric_D_Read

I think it goes a lot further than that. There is such a chasm of lifestyle and overall social influence between someone worth 2-5 million dollars, or even 20, and people worth billions or hundreds of millions.

It’s like the difference between some one hit wonder rapper who made a couple mil and Jay Z.
It’s the difference between a mid level pro athlete and the owner of the franchise.
It’s the difference between the chick who played Princess Leia and George Lucas.

The Well Dressed Man

The rebranding of “working poor” to “middle class” was an amazing feat of social engineering. Landless, indebted laborers have bought into the myth that they’re socioeconomically more than just indentured servants. A working class hero is something to be.

Eric_D_Read

And the erasing of the line between “walkin’ boss” and the railroad owner as well.

Will Coles

Aye, & creating an office environment that is essentially a factory for office workers allowed people to think they were middle class therefore making them fight for their owners rights rather than their own. So often the ‘middle class’ are really just house-slaves.

Eric_D_Read

Tits or GTFO

apdub

“I call people rich when they’re able to meet the requirements of their imagination” — Henry James

rhetorics_killer

According to this, wealth is evenly distributed, as much as imagination is: everybody own a tiny portion of it.

rhetorics_killer

The fact is crude: a millionaire requires much less time to spend 5 million than a middle-class fellow does: Consider his expanded ‘needs’, compared to those of a regular worker: insurance for the chopper and the jet, wages for the pilots and many employed servants, spendings for security, a collection of pensions for every former wives and children; parties to convene, people to bribe in order to maintain successfull positions, etc. Who runs what with 5 million?